Across the Zodiac by Percy Greg

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"You have quite settled in your own mind that I shall go! And in truthyou have now removed, as you yesterday created, the only obstacle. Ifyou would not go with me, I might, rather than give you up, have givenup the whole purpose of my enterprise, and have left my friends, andthe world from which I came, ignorant whether it had ever beenaccomplished. But if you accompany me, I shall certainly try to regainmy own planet."

"Then," she said hopefully, but half confidently, "when you go, if Ihave not given you cause of lasting displeasure, you _will_ take mewith you? Most men do not think much of promises, especially ofpromises made to women; but I have heard you speak as if to break aplighted word were a thing impossible."

"I promise," I returned earnestly, very much moved by a proof of realaffection such as I had no right to expect, and certainly had notanticipated. "I give you the word of one who has never lied, that if,when the time comes, you wish to go with me, you shall. But by thattime, you will probably have a better idea what are the dangers youare asking to share."

"What can that matter?" she answered. "I suppose in almost any case weshould escape or die together? To leave me here is to inflictcertainly, and at once, the worst that can possibly befall me; to takeme gives me the hope of living or dying with you; and even if I werekilled, I should be with you, and feel that you were kind to me, tothe last."

"I little thought," said I, hesitating long for some expression oftenderness, which the language of Mars refuses to furnish,--"I littlethought to find in a world of which selfishness seems to be theparamount principle, and the absence of real love even between man andwoman the most prevalent characteristic, a wife so true to the bestand deepest meaning of wedlock. Still less could I have hoped to findsuch a wife in one who had scarcely spoken to me twenty-four hoursbefore our marriage. If my unexampled adventure had had no otherreward--if I had cared nothing for the triumph of discovering a newworld with all its wonders--Eveena, this discovery alone is reward infull for all my studies, toils, and perils. For all I have done andrisked already, for all the risks of the future, I am tenfold repaidin winning you."

She looked up at these words with an expression in which there wasmore of bewilderment and incredulity than of satisfaction, evidentlytouched by the earnestness of my tone, but scarcely understanding mywords better than if I had spoken in my own tongue. It would not beworth while to record the next hour's conversation; I would only notethe strong and painful impression it left upon my mind. There was inEveena's language and demeanour a timidity--a sort of tentativefearful venturing as on dangerous ground, feeling her way, as it were,in almost every sentence--which could not be wholly attributed to theshyness of a very young and very suddenly wedded bride. There wasenough and to spare of this shyness; but more of the sheer physical ornervous fear of a child suddenly left in hands whose reputed severityhas thoroughly frightened her; not daring to give offence by silence,but afraid at each word to give yet more fatal offence in speaking.Longer experience of a world in which even the first passion of loveis devoid of tenderness--in which asserted equality has long sincedeprived women of that claim to indulgence which can only rest onacknowledged weakness--taught me but too well the meaning of thisfearful, trembling anxiety to please, or rather not to offend. Isuppose that even a brutal master hardly likes to see a child cower inhis presence as if constantly expecting a blow; and this cowering wasso evident in my bride's demeanour, that, after trying for a couple ofhours to coax her into confidence and unreserved feminine fluency, Ibegan to feel almost impatient. It was fortunate that, just as my toneinvoluntarily betrayed to her quick and watchful ear some shade ofannoyance, just as I caught a furtive upward glance that seemed to askwhat error she had committed and how it might be repaired, ascratching on the door startled her. She did not, however, venture todisengage herself from the hand which now held her own, but only movedhalf-imperceptibly aside with a slight questioning look and gesture,as if tacitly asking to be released. As I still held her fast, she wassilent, till the unnoticed scratching had been two or three timesrepeated, and then half-whispered, "Shall I tell them to come in?"When I released her, there appeared to my surprise at her call, nohuman intruder, but one of the ambau, bearing on a tray a goblet,which, as he placed it on a table beside us, I perceived to contain aliquid rather different from any yet offered me. The presence of thesemute servants is generally no more heeded than that of our cats anddogs; but I now learnt that Martial ideas of delicacy forbid them,even as human servants would be forbidden, to intrude unannounced onconjugal privacy. When the little creature had departed, I tasted theliquid, but its flavour was so unpleasant that I set down the vesselimmediately. Eveena, however, took it up, and drinking a part of it,with an effort to control the grimace of dislike it provoked, held itup to me again, so evidently expecting and inviting me to share itthat courtesy permitted no further demur. A second sign or look, whenI set it down unemptied, induced me to finish the draught. Regardingthe matter as some trivial but indispensable ceremonial, I took nofurther notice of it; but, thankful for the diversion it had given tomy thoughts, continued my endeavours to soothe and encourage my faircompanion. After a few minutes it seemed as if she were somewhatsuddenly gaining courage and confidence. At the same time I myselfbecame aware of a mental effect which I promptly ascribed to thedraught. Nor was I wrong. It contained one of those drugs which I havementioned; so rarely used in this house that I had never before seenor tasted any of them, but given, as matter of course, on any occasionthat is supposed to involve unusual agitation or make an exceptionalcall on nerves or spirits. But for the influence of this cup I shouldstill have withheld the remark which, nevertheless, I had resolved tomake as soon as I could hope to do so without annoying or alarmingEveena.

"Are you afraid of me?" I asked somewhat abruptly. The question mayhave startled her, but I was more startled by the answer.

"Of course," she said in a tone which would have been absolutelymatter of fact, except that the doubt evidently surprised her. "OughtI not to be so? But what made you ask? And what had I done todisplease you, just before they sent us the 'courage cup'?"

"I did not mean to show anything like displeasure," I replied. "But Iwas thinking then, and I may tell you now, that you remind me not ofthe women of my own Earth, but of petted children suddenly transferredto a harsh school. You speak and look like such a child, as if youexpected each moment at least to be severely scolded, if not beaten,without knowing your fault."

"Not yet," she murmured, with a smile which seemed to me more painfulthan tears would have been. "But please don't speak as if I shouldfear anything so much as being scolded by you. We have a saying that'the hand may bruise the skin, the tongue can break the heart.'"

"True enough," I said; "only on Earth it is mostly woman's tongue thatbreaks the heart, and men must not in return bruise the skin."

"Why not?" she asked. "You said to my mother the other day that Arga(the fretful child of Esmo's adoption) deserved to be beaten."

"Women are supposed," I answered, "to be amenable to milderinfluences; and a man must be drunk or utterly brutal before he coulddeal harshly with a creature so gentle and so fragile as yourself."

"Don't spoil me," she said, with a pretty half-mournful, half-playfulglance. "'A petted bride makes an unhappy wife.' Surely it is no truekindness to tempt us to count on an indulgence that cannot last."

"There is among us," I rejoined, "a saying about 'breaking a butterflyon the wheel'--as if one spoke of driving away the tiny birds thatnestle and feed in your flowers with a hammer. To apply your proverbsto yourself would be to realise this proverb of ours. Can you not letme pet and spoil my little flower-bird at least till I have tamed her,and trust me to chastise her as soon as she shall give reason--if Ican find a tendril or flower-stem light enough for the purpose?"

"Will you promise to use a hammer when you wish to be rid of her?"said she, glancing up for one moment through her drooping lashes witha look exactly attuned to the mingled archness and pathos of her tone.

CHAPTER XI - A COUNTRY DRIVE.

Like all Martialists, I had been accustomed since my landing to wakewith the first light of dawn; but the draught, though its earliereffects were anything but narcotic or stupifying, deepened andprolonged my sleep. It was not till the rays of sunlight came clearand full through the crystal roof of the peristyle, and the window ofour bridal chamber, that my eyes unclosed. The first object on whichthey opened startled me into full waking recollection. Exactly wherethe sunbeams fell, just within reach of my hand, Eveena stood; theloveliest creature I ever beheld, a miniature type of faultlessfeminine grace and beauty. By the standard of Terrestrial humanity shewas tiny rather than small: so light, so perfect in proportion, form,and features, so absolutely beautiful, so exquisitely delicate, as tosuggest the ideal Fairy Queen realised in flesh and blood, rather thanany properly human loveliness. In the transparent delicacy of acomplexion resembling that of an infant child of the fairest and mosttenderly nurtured among the finest races of Europe, in the ideallyperfect outline of face and features--the noble but even forehead--thesmooth, straight, clearly pencilled eyebrows--the large almond-shapedeyes and drooping lids, with their long, dark, soft fringe--the littlemouth and small, white, even regular teeth--the rosy lips, slightlycompressed, save when parted in speech, smile, or eager attention--sheexhibited in their most perfect but by no means fullest developmentthe characteristics of Martial physiognomy; or rather thecharacteristic beauty of a family in which the finest traits of thatphysiognomy are unmixed with any of its meaner or harsherpeculiarities. The hands, long, slight, and soft, the unsandalledfeet, not less perfectly shaped, could only have belonged to the childof ancestors who for more than a hundred generations have never knownhard manual toil, rough exposure, or deforming, cramping costume; evenas every detail of her beauty bore witness to an immemorialinheritance of health unbroken by physical infirmity, undisturbed byviolent passions, and developed by an admirable system of physical andmental discipline and culture. The absence of veil and sleeves leftvisible the soft rounded arms and shoulders, in whose complexion atinge of pale rose seemed to shine through a skin itself oftranslucent white; the small head, and the perfection of the slenderneck, with the smooth unbroken curve from the ear to the arm. Her longhair, fastened only by a silver band woven in and out behind the smallrounded ears, fell almost to her knee; and, as it caught the brightrays of the morning sun, I discerned for the first time the fullbeauty of that tinge of gold which varied the colour of the rich,soft, brown tresses. As her sex are seldom exposed to the cold of thenight or the mists, their underclothing is slight and close fitting.Eveena's thin robe, of the simplest possible form--two wide straightpieces of a material lustrous as satin but rivalling the finestcambric in texture (lined with the same fabric reversed), sewntogether from the hem of the skirt to the arm, and fastened again bythe shoulder clasps--fell perfectly loose save where compressed by thezone or by the movements of the wearer; and where so compressed,defined the outlines of the form as distinctly as the lightest wetdrapery of the studio. Her dress, in short, achieved in its puresimplicity all at which the artistic skill of matrons, milliners, andmaidens aims in a Parisian ball costume, without a shadow of thatsuggestive immodesty from which ball costumes are seldom wholly free.Exactly reversing Terrestrial practice, a Martial wife reserves forstrictest domestic privacy that undressed full-dress, that frankrevelation of her beauty, which the matrons of London, Paris, or NewYork think exclusively appropriate to the most public occasions. Tillnow, while still enjoying the liberty allowed to maidens in thisrespect, Eveena, by the arrangement of her veil, had always given toher costume a reserve wholly unexceptionable, even according to therules enforced by the customs of Western Europe on young girls not yetpresented in the marriage market of society. A new expression, or one,at least, which I had never before seen there, gave to her face astrange and novel beauty; the beauty, I wish to think, of shy, buttrue happiness; felt, it may be, for the first time, and softened, Ifear, by a doubt of its possible endurance which rendered it astouching as attractive. Never was the sleep even of the poet of the_Midsummer Night's Dream_ visited by a lovelier vision--especiallylovely as the soft rose blush suffused her cheeks under my gaze ofadmiration and delight. Springing up, I caught her with both hands anddrew her on my knee. Some minutes passed before either of us cared tospeak. Probably as she rested her head on my arm and looked into myeyes, each read the other's character more truly and clearly thanwords the most frank and open could ever enable us to do. I had taughther last night a few substitutes in the softest tongue I knew forthose words of natural tenderness in which her language is signallydeficient: taught her to understand them, certainly not to use them,for it was long before I could even induce her to address me by name.

"My father bade me yesterday," she said at last, "ask you in future towear the dress of our people. Not that you will be the less an objectof attention and wonder, but that in retaining a distinction whichdepends entirely on your own choice, you will seem intentionally toprefer your own habits to ours."

"I comply of course," I observed. "Naturally the dress of everycountry is best suited to its own conditions. Yet I should havethought that a preference for my own world, even were it whollyirrational, might seem at least natural and pardonable."

"People don't," she answered simply, "like any sign of individualfancy or opinion. They don't like any one to show that he thinks themwrong even on a matter of taste."

"I fear, then, _carissima_, that I must be content with unpopularity.I may wear the costume of your people; but their thought, theirconduct, their inner and outer life, as your father reports them, andas thus far I have seen them, are to me so unnatural, that the more Iresemble them externally the more my unlikeness in all else is likelyto attract notice. I am sorry for this, because women are by natureprone to judge even their nearest and dearest by the standard offashion, and to exact from men almost as close a conformity to thatstandard as they themselves display. I fear you will have to forgivemany heresies in my conduct as well as in my thoughts."

"You cannot suppose," she answered earnestly--she seemed incapable ofapprehending irony or jest,--"that I should wish you more like othersthan you are. Whatever may happen hereafter, I shall always feelmyself the happiest of women in having belonged to one who cares forsomething beside himself, and holds even life cheaper than love.""I hope so, _carissima_. But in that matter there was scarcely more oflove than of choice. What I did for you I must have done no less forZevle [her sister]. If I had feared death as much as the Regent does,I could not have returned alive and alone. My venture into infinitespace involved possibilities of horror more appalling than the mereterrors of death. You asked of me as my one bridal gift leave to shareits perils. How unworthy of you should I be, if I did not hold thepossession of Eveena, even for the two years of her promise, wellworth dying for!"

The moral gulf between the two worlds is wider than the material.Utterly unselfish and trustful, Eveena was almost pained to bereminded that the service she so extravagantly overprized was renderedto her sex rather than herself; while yet more deeply gratified,though still half incredulous, by the commonplace that preferred loveto life. I had yet to learn, however, that Eveena's nature was asutterly strange in her own world as the ideas in which she waseducated would seem in mine.

I left her for a few minutes to dress for the first time in thecostume which Esmo's care had provided. The single under-vestment ofsoftest hide, closely fitting from neck to knees, is of all garmentsthe best adapted to preserve natural warmth under the rapid andextreme changes of the external atmosphere. The outer garb consistedof blouse and trousers, woven of a fabric in which a fine warp ofmetallic lustre was crossed by a strong silken weft, giving the effectof a diapered scarlet and silver; both fastened by the belt, a broadgreen strap of some species of leather, clasped with gold. Masculinedress is seldom brilliant, as is that of the women, but convenient andcomfortable beyond any other, and generally handsome and elegant. Theone part of the costume which I could never approve is the sandal,which leaves the feet exposed to dust and cold. Rejoining my bride, Isaid--

"I have had no opportunity of seeing much of this country, and I fancyfrom what I have seen of feminine seclusion that an excursion would beas much a holiday treat to you as to myself. If your father will lendus his carriage, would you like to accompany me to one or two placesKevima has described not far from this, and which I am anxious tovisit?"

She bent her head, but did not answer; and fancying that the proposalwas not agreeable to her, I added--

"If you prefer to spend our little remaining time here with yourmother and sister, I will ask your brother to accompany me, though Iam selfishly unwilling to part with you to-day."

She looked up for a moment with an air of pain and perplexity, and asshe turned away I saw the tears gather in her eyes.

"What _is_ the matter?" I asked, surprised and puzzled as one on Earthwho tries to please a woman by offering her her own way, and findsthat, so offered, it is the last thing she cares to have. It did notoccur to me that, even in trifles, a Martial wife never dreams thather taste or wish can signify, or be consulted where her lord has apreference of his own. To invite instead of commanding hercompanionship was unusual; to withdraw the expression of my own wish,and bid her decide for herself, was in Eveena's eyes to mark formallyand deliberately that I did not care for her society.

"What have I done," she faltered, "to be so punished? I have not, savethe day before yesterday, left the house this year; and you offer methe greatest of pleasures only to snatch it away the next moment."

"Nay, Eveena!" I answered. "If I had not told you, you must know thatI cannot but wish for your company; but by your silence I fancied youdisliked my proposal, yet did not like to decline it."

The expression of surprise and perplexity in her face, though halfpathetic, seemed so comical that I with difficulty suppressed a laugh,because for her it was evidently no laughing matter. After giving hertime, as I thought, to recover herself, I said--

"Well, I suppose we may now join them at the morningmeal?"

Something was still wrong, the clue to which I gathered by observingher shy glance at her head-dress and veil.

"Must you wear those?" I asked--a question which gave her some suchimperfect clue to my thoughts as I had found to hers.

"How foolish of me," she said, smiling, "to forget how little you canknow of our customs! Of course I must wear my veil and sleeves; butto-day you must put on the veil, as you removed it last night."

The awkwardness with which I performed this duty had its effect inamusing and cheering her; and the look of happiness and trust had comeback to her countenance before the veil concealed it.

I made my request to Esmo, who answered, with some amusement--

"Every house like ours has from six to a dozen larger or lightercarriages. Of course they cost nothing save the original purchase.They last for half a lifetime, and are not costly at the outset. But Ihave news for you which, I venture to think, will be as littleagreeable to you as to ourselves. Your journey must begin tomorrow,and this, therefore, is the only opportunity you will have for such anexcursion as you propose."

"Then," I said, "will Eveena still wish to share it?"

Even her mother's face seemed to ask what in the world that couldmatter; but a movement of the daughter's veiled head reminded me thatI was blundering; and pressing her little hand as she lay beside me, Itook her compliance for granted.

The morning mist had given place to hot bright sunshine when westarted. At first our road lay between enclosures like that whichsurrounded Esmo's dwelling.

Presently the lines were broken here and there by such fields as I hadseen in descending from Asnyca; some filled with crops of human food,some with artificial pastures, in which Unicorns or other creatureswere feeding. I saw also more than one field wherein the _carvee_ wereweeding or gathering fruit, piling their burdens in either case assoon as their beaks were full into bags or baskets. Pointing out toEveena the striking difference of colour between the cultivated fieldsand gardens and the woods or natural meadows on the mountain sides, Ilearned from her that this distinction is everywhere perceptible inMars. Natural objects, plants or animals, rocks and soil, are for themost part of dimmer, fainter, or darker tints than on Earth; probablyowing to the much less intense light of the Sun; partly, perhaps, tothat absorption of the blue rays by the atmosphere, which diminishes,I suppose, even that light which actually reaches the planet. Butuncultivated ground, except on the mountains above the ordinary rangeof crops or pastures, scarcely exists in the belt of Equatorialcontinents; the turf itself, like the herbage or fruit shrubs in thefields, is artificial, consisting of plants developed through longages into forms utterly unlike the native original by the skill andingenuity of man. Even the great fruit trees have undergone materialchange, not only in the size, flavour, and appearance of the fruitsthemselves, which have been the immediate object of care, but,probably through some natural correlation between, the differentorgans, in the form and colour of the foliage, the arrangement of thebranches, and the growth of the trunk, all of which are much moreregular, and, so to speak, more perfect, than is the case either hereor on Earth with those left to the control of Nature and locality, orthe effects of the natural competition, which is in its way perhaps askeen among plants and animals as among men. Martialists have the samedelight in bright colours as Orientals, with far greater taste inselection and combination; and the favourite hues not only of theirflowers, tame birds, fishes, and quadrupeds, but of plants in whosecultivation utility has been the primary object, contrast signally, asI have said, with the dull tints of the undomesticated flora andfauna, of which comparatively scanty remnants were visible here andthere in this rich country.

Presently we came within sight of the river, over which was a singlebridge, formed by what might be called a tube of metal built intostrong walls on either bank. In fact, however, the sides were of openwork, and only the roof and floor were solid. The river at this, itsnarrowest point, was perhaps a furlong in breadth, and it was notwithout instinctive uneasiness that I trusted to the security of asingle piece of metal spanning, without even the strength afforded bythe form of the arch, so great a space.

The first object we were to visit lay at some distance down thestream. As we approached the point, we passed a place where the riverwidened considerably. The main channel in the centre was kept clearand deep to afford an uninterrupted course for navigation; but oneither side were rocks that broke the river into pools and shallows,such as here, no less than on Earth, form the favourite haunts orspawning places of the fish. In some of the lesser pools birds largerthan the stork, bearing under the throat an expansible bag like thatof the pelican, were seeking for prey. They were watched and directedby a master on the shore, and carried to a square tank, fixed on awheeled frame not unlike that of the ordinary carriage, whichaccompanied him, each fish they took. I observed that the latter werecarefully seized, with the least possible violence or injury, placedby a jerk head-downmost in the throat-bag, which, though when empty itwas scarcely perceptible, would contain prey of very considerable sizeand weight, and as carefully disgorged into the tank. In one of themost extensive pools, too deep for these birds, a couple of men hadspread a sort of net, not unlike those used on Earth, but formed oftwisted metal threads with very narrow meshes, enclosing the wholepool, a space of perhaps some 400 square yards. In the centre of thisan electric lamp was let down into the water, some feet below thesurface. The fish crowded towards it, and a sudden shock ofelectricity transmitted through the meshes of the net, as well as fromthe wires of the lamp circuit, stunned for a few minutes all lifewithin the enclosure. The fish then floated on the surface, the netwas drawn together, and they were collected and sorted; some which, asI afterwards learned, were required for breeding, being carefully andseparately preserved in a smaller tank, those fit for food cast intothe larger one, those too small for the one purpose and not needed forthe other being thrown back into the water. I noted, however, thatmany fish apparently valuable were among those thus rejected. I spoketo one of the fishermen, who, regarding me with great surprise andcuriosity, at last answered briefly that a stringent law forbids thecatching of spawning fish except for breeding purposes. Those,therefore, for which the season was close-time were invariably spared.

In sea-fishing a much larger net, sometimes enclosing more than 10,000square yards, is employed. This fishing is conducted chiefly at night,the electric lamp being then much more effective in attracting theprey, and lowered only a few inches below the surface. Many largedestructive creatures, unfit for food, generally of a natureintermediate between fish and reptiles, haunt the seas. It is heldunwise to exterminate them, since they do their part in keeping downan immense variety of smaller creatures, noxious for one reason oranother, and also in clearing the water from carrion and masses ofseaweed which might otherwise taint the air of the sea-coasts,especially near the mouths of large tropical rivers. But thesesea-monsters devour enormous quantities of fish, and the huntersappointed to deal with them are instructed to limit their numbers tothe minimum required. Their average increase is to be destroyed eachyear. If at any time it appear that, for whatever cause, the totalnumber left alive is falling off, the chief of this service suspendsit partially or wholly at his discretion.

We now came to the entrance of a vast enclosure bordering on theriver, the greatest fish-breeding establishment on this continent, orindeed in this world. One of its managers courteously showed me overit. It is not necessary minutely to describe its arrangements, fromthe spawning ponds and the hatching tanks--the latter contained in ahuge building, whose temperature is preserved with the utmost care atthe rate found best suited to the ova--to the multitude of streams,ponds, and lakes in which the different kinds of fish are kept duringthe several stages of their existence. The task of the breeders ismuch facilitated by the fact that the seas of Mars are not, like ours,salt; and though sea and river fish are almost as distinct as onEarth, each kind having its own habitat, whose conditions arecarefully reproduced in the breeding or feeding reservoirs, the samekind of water suits all alike. It is necessary, however, to keep thefishes of tropical seas and streams in water of a very differenttemperature from that suited to others brought from arctic orsub-arctic climates; and this, like every other point affecting thenatural peculiarities and habits of the fish, is attended to withminute and accurate care. The skill and science brought to bear on thetask of breeding accomplish this and much more difficult operationswith marvellous ease and certainty.

On one of the buildings I observed one of the most remarkable,largest, and most complete timepieces I had yet seen; and I had onthis occasion an opportunity of examining it closely. The dial wasoblong, enclosed in a case of clear transparent crystal, somewhatresembling in form the open portion of a mercurial barometer. At thetop were three circles of different colours, divided by twelveequidistant lines radiating from the centres and subdivided again andagain by the same number. Exactly at the uppermost point of each was agolden indicator. One of these circles marked the temperature,graduated from the lowest to the highest degree ever known in thatlatitude. Another indicated the direction of the wind, while the depthof colour in the circle itself, graduated in a manner carefullyexplained to me, but my notes of which are lost, showed the exactforce of the atmospheric current. The third served the purpose of abarometer. A coloured band immediately below indicated by thevariations of tint the character of the coming weather. This bandstretched right across the face; below it were figures indicating theday of the year. The central portion of the face was occupied by alarger circle, half-green and half-black; the former portionrepresenting the colour of the daylight sky, the latter emblematic ofnight. On this circle the Sun and the planets were represented byfigures whose movement showed exactly the actual place of each in thecelestial sphere. The two Moons were also figured, their phases andposition at each moment being accurately presented to the eye. Aroundthis circle was a narrow band divided into strips of different lengthof various colours, each representing one of the peculiar divisions ofthe Martial day; that point which came under the golden indicatorshowing the _zyda_ and the exact moment of the _zyda_, while themovement of the inner circle fixed with equal accuracy the period ofday or night. Below were other circles from which the observer couldlearn the amount of moisture in the atmosphere, the intensity of thesunlight, and the electric tension at the moment. Each of the sixsmaller circles registered on a moving ribbon the indications of everysuccessive moment, these ribbons when unrolled forming a perfectrecord of temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind, and so forth, inthe form of a curve--a register kept for more than 8000 Martial years.

Four times during the revolution of the great circle each large clockemits for a couple of minutes a species of chime, the nature of whichmy ignorance of music renders me unable to describe:--viz., when theline dividing the green and black semicircles is horizontal at noonand midnight, and an hour before, at average sunrise and sunset, itbecomes perpendicular. The individual character of the several chimes,tunes, or peals, whatever they should be called, is so distinct thateven I appreciated it. Further, as the first point of the colouredstrip distinguishing each several _zyda_ reaches the golden indicator,a single slightly prolonged sound--I fancy what is known on Earth as asingle chord--is emitted. Of these again each is peculiar, so that noone with an ear for music can doubt what is the period of the dayannounced. The sound is never, even in the immediate vicinity of theclock, unpleasantly loud; while it penetrates to an amazing distance.It would be perfectly easy, if needful, to regulate all clocks bymechanical control through the electric network extended all over theface of the planet; but the perfect accuracy of each individualtimepiece renders any such check needless. In those latitudes whereday and night during the greater part of the year are not evenapproximately equal, the black and green semicircles are so enlargedor diminished by mechanical means, that the hour of the day or nightis represented as accurately as on the Equator itself.

The examination of this establishment occupied us for two or threehours, and when we remounted our carriage it seemed to me onlyreasonable that Eveena should be weary both in mind and body. Iproposed, therefore, to return at once, but against this she earnestlyprotested.

"Well," I said, "we will finish our excursion, then. Only rememberthat whenever you do feel tired you must tell me at once. I do notknow what exertion you can bear, and of course it would be mostinconsiderate to measure your endurance by my own."

She promised, and we drove on for another hour in the direction of arange of hills to the north-eastward. The lower and nearer portion ofthis range might he 400 feet above the general level of the plain;beyond, the highest peaks rose to perhaps 1500 feet, the averagesummit being about half that height. Where our road brought us to thefoot of the first slope, large groves of the _calmyra_, whose fruitcontains a sort of floury pulp like roasted potato, were planted onground belonging to the State, and tenanted by young men belonging tothat minority which, as Esmo had told me not being fortunate enough tofind private employment, is thus provided for. Encountering one ofthese, he pointed out to us the narrow road which, winding up theslope, afforded means of bringing down in waggons during the twoharvest seasons, each of which lasts for about fifty days, the fruitof these groves, which furnishes a principal article of food. Thetrees do not reach to a higher level than about 400 feet; and abovethis we had to ascend on foot by a path winding through meadows, whichI at first supposed to be natural. Eveena, however, quickly undeceivedme, pointing out the prevalence of certain plants peculiar to thecultivated pastures we had seen in the plain. These were sopredominant as to leave no reasonable doubt that they had beenoriginally sown by the hand of man, though the irregularity of theirarrangement, and the encroachment of one species upon the ground ofanother, enabled my companion to prove to me with equal clearness thatsince its first planting the pasture had been entirely neglected. Itwas, she thought, worth planting once for all with the most nutritiousherbage, but not worth the labour of subsequent close cultivation. Anylady belonging to a civilised people, and accustomed to a countrylife, upon Earth might easily have perceived all that Eveenadiscovered; but considering how seldom the latter had left her home,how few opportunities she had to see anything of practicalagriculture, the quickness of her perception and the correctness ofher inferences not a little surprised me. The path we pursued leddirectly to the object of our visit. The waters of the higher hillswere collected in a vast tank excavated in an extensive plateau at themid-level. At the summit of the first ascent we met and were escortedby one of the officials entrusted with the charge of these works,which supply water of extraordinary purity to a population of perhapsa quarter of a million, inhabiting a district of some 10,000 squaremiles in extent. The tank was about sixty feet in depth, and perhaps amile in length, with half that breadth. Its sides and bottom-werelined with the usual concrete. Our guide informed me that in manycases tanks were covered with the crystal employed for doors andwindows; but in the-pure air of these hills such a precaution wasthought unnecessary, as it would have been exceedingly costly. Thewater itself was of wonderful purity, so clear that the smallestobject at the bottom was visible where the Sun, still high in theheavens, shone directly upon the surface. But this purity would by nomeans satisfy the standard of Martial sanitary science. In the firstplace, it is passed into a second division of the tank, where it issubjected to some violent electric action till every kind of organicgerm it may contain is supposed to be completely destroyed. It is thenpassed through several covered channels and mechanically or chemicallycleansed from every kind of inorganic impurity, and finally oxygenatedor aerated with air which has undergone a yet more elaboratepurification. At every stage in this process, a phial of water istaken out and examined in a dark chamber by means of a beam of lightemanating from a powerful electric lamp and concentrated by a hugecrystal lens. If this beam detect any perceptible dust or mattercapable of scattering the light, the water is pronounced impure andpassed through further processes. Only when the contents of the bottleremain absolutely dark, in the midst of an atmosphere whose floatingdust renders the beam visible on either side, so that the phial, whileperfectly transparent to the light, nevertheless interrupts the beamwith a block of absolute darkness, is it considered fit for humanconsumption. It is then distributed through pipes of concrete, intowhich no air can possibly enter, to cisterns equally, air-tight inevery house. The water in these is periodically examined by officersfrom the waterworks, who ascertain that it has contracted no impurityeither in the course of its passage through hundreds of miles ofpiping or in the cisterns themselves. The Martialists consider that tothis careful purification of their water they owe in great measuretheir exemption from the epidemic diseases which were formerly notinfrequent. They maintain that all such diseases are caused by organicself-multiplying germs, and laugh to scorn the doctrine of spontaneousgeneration, either of disease, or of even such low organic life as canpropagate it. I suggested that the atmosphere itself must, if theirtheory were true, convey the microscopic seeds of disease even morefreely and universally than the water.

"Doubtless," replied our guide, "it would scatter them more widely;but it does not enable them to penetrate and germinate in the bodyhalf so easily as when conveyed by water. You must be aware that thelining of the upper air-passages arrests most of the impuritiescontained in the inhaled air before it comes into contact with theblood in the lungs themselves. Moreover, the extirpation of onedisease after another, the careful isolation of all infectious cases,and the destruction of every article that could preserve or convey thepoisonous germs, has in the course of ages enabled us utterly todestroy them."

This did not seem to me consistent with the confession that disordersof one kind or another still not infrequently decimate theirhighly-bred domestic animals, however the human race itself may havebeen secured against contagion. I did not, however, feel competent toargue the question with one who had evidently studied physiology muchmore deeply than myself; and had mastered the records of an experienceinfinitely longer, guided by knowledge far more accurate, than ispossessed by the most accomplished of Terrestrial physiologists.

The examination of these works of course occupied us for a long time,and obliged us to traverse several miles of ground. More than once Ihad suggested to Eveena that we should leave our work unfinished, andon every opportunity had insisted that she should rest. I had been tookeenly interested in the latter part of the explanation given me, todetect the fatigue she anxiously sought to conceal; but when we leftthe works, I was more annoyed than surprised to find that the walkdown-hill to our carriage was too much for her. The vexation I feltwith myself gave, after the manner of men, some sharpness to the toneof my remonstrance with her.

"I bade you, and you promised, to tell me as soon as you felt tired;and you have let me almost tire you to death! Your obedience, howeverstrict in theory, reminds me in practice of that promised by women onEarth in their marriage-vow--and never paid or remembered afterwards."

She did not answer; and finding that her strength was utterlyexhausted, I carried her down the remainder of the hill and placed herin the carriage. During our return neither of us spoke. Ascribing hersilence to habit or fatigue, perhaps to displeasure, and busied inrecalling what I had seen and heard, I did not care to "makeconversation," as I certainly should have done had I guessed whatimpression my taciturnity made on my companion's mind. I was heartilyglad for her sake when we regained the gate of her father's garden.Committing the carriage to the charge of an amba, I half led, halfcarried Eveena along the avenue, overhung with the grand conicalbells--gold, crimson, scarlet, green, white, or striped or variegatedwith some or all these colours--of the glorious _leveloo_, the Martialconvolvulus. Its light clinging stems and foliage hid the _astyra's_arched branches overhead, and formed a screen on either side. From itsbells flew at our approach a whole flock of the tiny and beautifulcaree, which take the chief part in rendering to the flora of Marssuch services as the flowers of Earth receive from bees andbutterflies. They feed on the nectar, farina, syrup, and othersecretions, sweet or bitter, in which the artificial flowers of Marsare peculiarly abundant, and make their nests in the calyx or amongthe petals. These lovely little birds--about the size of a hornet, butperfect birds in miniature, with wings as large as those of thelargest Levantine _papilio_, and feathery down equally fine andsoft--are perhaps the most shy and timid of all creatures familiarwith the presence of Martial humanity. The varied colours of theirplumage, combined and intermingled in marvellously minute patterns,are all of those subdued or dead tints agreeable to the taste ofJapanese artists, and perhaps to no other. They signally contrast thevivid and splendid colouring of objects created or developed by humangenius and patience, from the exquisite decorations and jewel-likemasses of domestic and public architecture to the magnificent flowersand fruit produced, by the labour of countless generations, fromoriginals so dissimilar that only the records of past ages can traceor the searching comparisons of science recognise them. I am told thatthe present race of flower-birds themselves are a sort of indirectcreation of art. They certainly vary in size, shape, and colouraccording to the flower each exclusively frequents; and those whichhaunt the cultivated bells of the _leveloo_ present an amazingcontrast to the far tinier and far less beautiful _caree_ which havenot yet abandoned the wildflowers for those of the garden. Above twohundred varieties distinguished by ornithologists frequent only thedomesticated flowers.

The flight of this swarm of various beauty recalled the conversationof last night; and breaking off unobserved a long fine tendril of theleveloo, I said lightly--

"Flower-birds are not so well-trained as _esvee_, bambina."

Never forgetting a word of mine, and never failing to catch with quickintelligence the sense of the most epigrammatic or delicate metaphor,Eveena started and looked up, as if stung by a serious reproach.Fancying that overpowering fatigue had so shaken her nerves, I wouldnot allow her to speak. But I did not understand how much she had beendistressed, till in her own chamber, cloak and veil thrown aside, shestood beside my seat, her sleeveless arms folded behind her, droopinglike a lily beaten down by a thunderstorm. Then she murmured sadly--

"I did not think of offending. But you are quite right; disobedienceshould never pass."

"Certainly not," I replied, with a smile she did not see. Taking boththe little hands in my left, I laid the tendril on her soft whiteshoulders, but so gently that in her real distress she did not feelthe touch. "You see I can keep my word; but never let me tire youagain. My flower-bird cannot take wing if she anger me in earnest."

"Are you not angered now?" she asked, glancing up in utter surprise.

My eyes, or the sight of the leveloo, answered her; and a sweet brightsmile broke through her look of frightened, penitent submission, asshe snatched the tendril and snapped it in my hand.

"Cruel!" she said, with a pretty assumption of ill-usage, "to visit afirst fault with the whip."

"You are hard to please, bambina! I knew no better. Seriously, until Ican measure your strength more truly, never again let me feel that ininviting your company I have turned my pleasure into your pain."

"No, indeed," she urged, once more in earnest. "Girls so seldom passthe gate, and men never walk where a carriage will go, or I should nothave been so stupid. But if I had blistered my feet, and the leveloohad been a nut-vine, the fruit was worth the scratches."

"What do you know, my child, either of blisters or stripes?"

"You will teach me----No, you know I don't mean that! But you willtake me with you sometimes till I learn better! If you are going toleave me at home in future "----

"My child, can you not trust me to take you for my own pleasure?"

The silvery tone of her low sweet laugh was truly perfectly musical.

"Forgive me," she said, nestling in the cushions at my knee, andseeking with upturned eyes, like a child better assured of pardon thanof full reconciliation, to read my face, "it is very naughty to laugh,and very ungrateful, when you speak to please me; but is it realkindness to say what I should be very silly to believe?"

"You will believe whatever I tell you, child. If you wish to anger aman, even with you, tell him that he is lying."

"I do nothing but misbehave," she said, in earnest despondency."I----" But I sealed her lips effectually for the moment.

"Why did you not speak as we came home?"

"You were tired, and I was thinking over all I had seen. Besides, whotalks air?" [makes conversation].

"Crying for fear? You did well to break the leveloo!... And so youthink I must be tired of my bride, before the colours have gone roundon the dial?"

"Not tired of her. You will like a little longer to find her in thecushions when you are vexed or idle; but you don't want her where herignorance wearies and her weakness hampers you."

"Are you an _esve_, to be caged at home, and played with for lack ofbetter employment? We shall never understand each other, child."

"What more can I be? But don't say we shall never understand eachother," she pleaded earnestly. "It took time and trouble to make mypet understand and obey each word and sign. Zevle gave hers more slapsand fewer sweets, and it learned sooner. But, like me, you want youresve to be happy, not only to fly straight and play prettily. She willtry hard to learn if you will teach her, and not be so afraid ofhurting her, as if she expected sweets from both hands. It is easy foryou to see through her empty head: do cot give her up till she has hadtime to look a little way into your eyes."

"Eveena," I answered, almost as much pained as touched by theunaffected humility which had so accepted and carried out my ironicalcomparison, "one simple magnet-key would unlock the breast whosesecrets seem so puzzling; but it has hardly a name in your tongue, andcannot yet be in your hands."

"Ah, yes!" she said softly, "you gave it me; do you think I have lostit in two nights? But the esve cannot be loved as she loves hermaster. I could half understand the prodigal heart that would buy agirl's life with yours, and all that is bound up in yours. No other_man_ would have done it--in our world," she added, answering mygesture of dissent; "but they say that the terrible _kargynda_ willstand by his dying mate till he is shot down. You bought my heart, mylove, all I am, when you bought my life, and never asked the cost."She continued almost in a whisper, her rose-suffused cheeks and moisteyes hidden from my sight as the lips murmured their loving words intomy ear,--"Though the nestling never looked from under the wing, do youthink she knows not what to expect when she is bought from the nest?She dares not struggle in the hand that snatches her; much more didshe deserve to be rated and rapped for fluttering in that which savedher life. Bought twice over, caged by right as by might--was herthought midnight to your eyes, when she wondered at the look thatwatched her so quietly, the hand that would not try to touch lest itshould scare her, the patience that soothed and coaxed her to perch onthe outstretched finger, like a flower-bird tamed at last? Do youthink that name, given her by lips which softened even their words offondness for her ear, did not go to her heart straight as the esveflies home, or that it could ever be forgotten? There is a chant younggirls are fond of, which tells more than I can say."

Her tones fell so low that I should have lost them, had her lips notactually touched my ear while she chanted the strange words in thesweetest notes of her sweet voice:--

"Never yet hath single sun Seen a flower-bird tamed and won; Sun and stars shall quit the sky Ere a bird so tamed shall fly.

The next morning saw our journey commenced. Eveena's wardrobe, with myown and my books, portfolios, models, and specimens of Terrestrial artand mechanism, were packed in light metallic cases adapted to thelarger form of carriage whereof I have made mention. I was fortunatein escaping the actual parting scene between Eveena and her family,and my own leave-taking was hurried. Esmo and his son accompanied us,leading the way in one carriage, while Eveena and myself occupied thatwhich we had used on our memorable trip to the Astronaut. Half an hourbrought us to the road beside the river, and a few minutes more to thepoint at which a boat awaited us. The road being some eight or tenfeet above the level of the water, a light ladder not three feet longwas ready to assist our descent to the deck. The difference of sizebetween the Martial race and my own was forcibly impressed upon me, inseeing that Esmo and his son found this assistance needful, or atleast convenient, while I simply stepped rather than jumped to thedeck, and lifted Eveena straight from her carriage to her seat underthe canopy that covered the stern of the vessel. Intended only forriver navigation, propelled by a small screw like two fishtails set atright angles, working horizontally; the vessel had but two cabins, oneon either side of the central part occupied by the machinery. Thestern apartment was appropriated to myself and my bride, theforecastle, if I may so call it, to our companions, the boatmen havingberths in the corners of the machine-room. The vessel wasflat-bottomed, drawing about eighteen inches of water and rising aboutfive feet from the surface, leaving an interior height which obligedme to be cautious in order not to strike my head against everyprojection or support of the cabin roof. We spent the whole of theday, however, on deck, and purposely slackened the speed of the boat,which usually travels some thirty miles an hour, in order to enjoy theeffect and observe the details of the landscape. For the first fewmiles our voyage lay through the open plain. Then we passed, on theleft as we ascended the stream, the mountain on whose summit I triedwith my binocular to discern the Astronaut, but unsuccessfully, thetrees on the lower slopes intercepting the view. Eveena, seeing myeyes fixed on that point, extended her hand and gently drew the glassout of mine.

"Not yet," she said; which elicited from me the excuse--

"That mountain has for me remembrances more interesting than those ofmy voyage, or even than the hopes of return."

Presently, as we followed the course of the stream, we lost sightaltogether of the rapidly dwindling patches of colour representing theenclosures of Ecasfe. On our left, at a distance varying from three tofive miles, but constantly increasing as the stream bent to thenorthward, was the mountain range I had scanned in my descent. On ourright the plain dipped below the horizon while still but a few feetabove the level of the river; but in the distant sky we discerned someobjects like white clouds, which from their immobility and fixednessof outline I soon discovered to be snow-crowned hills, lower, however,than those to the northward, and perhaps some forty miles distant. Thevalley is one of the richest and most fertile portions of thiscontinent, and was consequently thoroughly cultivated and more denselypeopled than most parts even of the Equatorial zone. An immediateriver frontage being as convenient as agreeable, the enclosures oneither bank were continuous, and narrow in proportion to their depth;the largest occupying no more than from one hundred and fifty to twohundred yards of the bank, the smaller from half to one quarter ofthat length. Most had a tunnel pierced under the road bordering theriver, through which the water was admitted to their grounds andcarried in a minute stream around and even through the house; forornament rather than for use, since every house in a district sopopulous has a regular artificial water supply, and irrigation, as Ihave explained, is not required. The river itself was embellished withmasses of water-flowers; and water-birds, the smallest scarcely largerthan a wagtail, the largest somewhat exceeding the size of a swan, ofa different form and dark grey plumage, but hardly less graceful,seemed to be aware of the stringent protection they enjoyed from thelaw. They came up to our boat and fed out of Eveena's hand withperfect fearlessness. I could not induce any of them to be equallyfamiliar with myself, my size probably surprising them as much astheir masters, and leading them to the same doubt whether I werereally and wholly human. The lower slopes of the hills were coveredwith orchards of every kind, each species occupying the level bestsuited to it, from the reed-supported orange-like _alva_ of thelowlands to the tall _astyra_, above which stretched the timberforests extending as high as trees could grow, while between these andthe permanent snow-line lay the yellowish herbage of extensivepastures. A similar mountain range on earth would have presented agreater variety of colouring and scenery, the total absence ofglaciers, even in the highest valleys, creating a notable difference.The truth is that the snows of Mars are nowhere deep, and melt in thesummer to such an extent that that constant increase whose downwardtendency feeds Terrestrial glaciers cannot take place. Probably thethin atmosphere above the snow-line can hold but little watery vapour.Esmo was of opinion that the snow on the highest steeps, even on alevel plateau, was never more than two feet in depth; and in more thanone case a wind-swept peak or pinnacle was kept almost clear, andpresented in its grey, green, or vermilion rocks a striking contrastto the masses of creamy white around it. This may explain the veryrapid diminution of the polar ice-caps in the summer of either, butespecially of the Southern hemisphere; and also the occasionalappearance of large dark spots in their midst, where the shallow snowhas probably been swept away by the rare storms of this planet from anextensive land surface. It is supposed that no inconsiderable part ofthe ice and snow immediately surrounding the poles covers land; but,though balloon parties have of late occasionally reached the poles,they have never ventured to remain there long enough to disembark andascertain the fact.

Towards evening the stream turned more decidedly to the north, and atthis point Esmo brought out an instrument constructed somewhat on theprinciple of a sextant or quadrant, but without the mirror, by whichwe were enabled to take reliable measures of the angles. By a processwhich at that time I did not accurately follow, and which I had notsubsequently the means of verifying, the distance as well as the anglesubtended by the height was obtained. Kevima, after working out hisfather's figures, informed me that the highest peak in view--thehighest in Mars--was not less than 44,000 feet. No Martial balloonist,much less any Martial mountain-climber, has ever, save once, reached agreater height than 16,000 feet--the air at the sea-level beingscarcely more dense than ours at 10,000 feet. Kevima indicated onespot in the southern range of remarkable interest, associated with anincident which forms an epoch in the records of Martial geography. Asloping plateau, some 19,000 feet above the sea-level, is defined withremarkable clearness in the direction from which we viewed it. Theforests appeared to hide, though they do not of course actuallyapproach, its lower edge. On one side and to the rear it is shut in byprecipices so abrupt that the snow fails to cling to them, while onthe remaining side it is separated by a deep, wide cleft from thewestern portion of the range. Here for centuries were visible therelics of an exploring party, which reached this plateau and neverreturned. Attempts have, since the steering of balloons has become anaccomplished fact, been made to reach the point, but without success,and those who have approached nearest have failed to find any of thelong-visible remains of an expedition which perished four or fivethousand years ago. Kevima thought it probable that the metallic poleseven then employed for tents and for climbing purposes might still beintact; but if so, they were certainly buried in the snow, and Esmobelieved it more likely that even these had perished.

As the mists of evening fell we retreated to our cabin, which waswarmed by a current of heated air from the electric machinery. Hereour evening meal was served, at which Esmo and his son joined us,Eveena resuming, even in their presence, the veil she had worn on deckbut had laid aside the moment we were alone. An hour or two aftersunset, the night (an unusual occurrence in Mars) was clear and fine,and I took this opportunity of observing from a new standpoint thefamiliar constellations. The scintillation so characteristic of thefixed stars, especially in the temperate climates of the Earth, wasscarcely perceptible. Scattered once more over the surface of adefined sky, it was much easier than in space to recognise the severalconstellations; but their new and strange situations were not a littlesurprising at first sight, some of those which, as seen on Earthrevolved slowly in the neighbourhood of the poles, being now not farfrom the tropics, and some, which had their place within the tropics,now lying far to north or south. Around the northern pole the Swanswings by its tail, as in our skies the Lesser Bear; Arided being aPole-Star which needs no Pointers to indicate its position. Vega isthe only other brilliant star in the immediate neighbourhood; and,save for the presence of the Milky Way directly crossing it, thearctic circle is distinctly less bright than our own. The south polelies in one of the dullest regions of the heavens, near the chief starof the Peacock. Arcturus, the Great Bear, the Twins, the Lion, theScorpion, and Fomalhaut are among the ornaments of the Equatorialzone: the Cross, the Centaur, and the Ship of our antarcticconstellations, are visible far into the northern hemisphere. On thepresent occasion the two Moons were both visible in the west, thehorns of both crescents pointing in the same direction, though the onewas in her last, the other in her first phase.

As we were watching them, Eveena, wrapped in a cloak of fur not alittle resembling that of the silver fox, but far softer, stole herhand into mine and whispered a request that I would lend her theinstrument I was using. With some instruction and help she contrivedto adjust it, her sight requiring a decided alteration of the focusand an approach of the two eye-pieces; the eyes of her race being setsomewhat nearer than in an average Aryan countenance. She expressed nolittle surprise at the clearness of definition, and the markedenlargement of the discs of the two satellites, and would have usedthe instrument to scan the stars and visible planets had I notinsisted on her retirement; the light atmosphere, as is always thecase on clear nights, when no cloud-veil prevents rapid radiation fromthe surface, being bitterly cold, and her life not having accustomedher to the night air even in the most genial season.

As we could, of course, see nothing of the country through which wepassed during the night, and as Esmo informed me that little ornothing of special interest would occur during this part of ourvoyage, our vessel went at full speed, her pilot being thoroughlyacquainted with the river, and an electric light in the bow enablinghim to steer with perfect confidence and safety. When, therefore, wecame on deck after the dissipation of the morning mist, we foundourselves in a scene very different from that which we had left. Ourcourse was north by west. On either bank lay a country cultivatedindeed, but chiefly pastoral, producing a rich herbage, grazed byinnumerable herds, among which I observed with interest several flocksof large birds, kept, as Esmo informed me, partly for their plumage.This presented remarkable combinations of colour, far surpassing inbrilliancy and in variety of pattern the tail of the peacock, andoften rivalling in length and delicacy, while exceeding in beauty ofcolouring, the splendid feathers which must have embarrassed the Birdof Paradise, even before they rendered him an object of pursuit bythose who have learnt the vices and are eager to purchase the wares ofcivilised man. Immediately across our course, at a distance of somethirty miles, stretched a range of mountains. I inquired of Esmo howthe river turned in order to avoid them, since no opening was visibleeven through my glass.

"The proper course of the river," he said, "lies at the foot of thosehills. But this would take us out of our road, and, moreover, thestream is not navigable for many stoloi above the turning-point. Weshall hold on nearly in the same direction as the present till we landat their foot."

"And how," I said, "are we to cross them?"

"At your choice, either by carriage or by balloon," he said. "There isat our landing-place a town in which we shall easily procure either."

"But," said I, "though our luggage is far less heavy than would bethat of a bride on Earth, and Eveena's forms the smallest portion ofit, I should fancy that it must be inconveniently heavy for aballoon."

"Certainly," he replied; "but we could send it by carriage even overthe mountain roads. The boat, however, will go on, and will meet ussome thirty miles beyond the point where we leave it."

"And how is the boat to pass over the hills?"

"Not over, but under," he said, smiling. "There is no natural passageentirely through the range, but there is within it a valley the bottomof which is not much higher than this plain. Of the thirty miles to betraversed, about one-half lies in the course of this valley, alongwhich an artificial canal has been made. Through the hills at eitherend a tunnel has been cut, the one of six, the other of about ninemiles in length, affording a perfectly safe and easy course for theboat; and it is through these that nearly all the heavy trafficpassing in this direction is conveyed."

"I should like," I said, "if it be possible, to pass through one atleast of these tunnels, unless there be on the mountains themselvessomething especially worth seeing."

"Nothing," he replied. "They are low, none much exceeding the heightof that from which you descended."

Eveena now joined us on deck, and we amused ourselves for the next twohours in observing the different animals, of which such numbers wereto be seen at every turn, domesticated and trained for one or other ofthe many methods in which the brutes can serve the convenience, thesustenance, or the luxury of man. Animal food is eaten on Mars; butthe flesh of birds and fish is much more largely employed than that ofquadrupeds, and eggs and milk enter into the cuisine far moreextensively than either. In fact, flesh and fish are used much as theyseem to have been in the earlier period of Greek civilisation, asrelish and supplement to fruits, vegetables, and farinaceous dishes,rather than as the principal element of food. As their training andtheir extreme tameness indicate, domestic creatures, even thosedestined only to serve as food or to furnish clothing, are treated notindeed with tenderness, but with gentleness, and without either theneglect or the cruelty which so revolt humane men in witnessing thetreatment of Terrestrial animals by those who have personal charge ofthem. To describe any considerable number of the hundred forms I sawduring this short period would be impossible. I have drawings, orrather pictures, of most, taken by the light-painting process, which Ihope herewith to remit to Earth, and which at least serve to give ageneral idea of the points in which the Martial chiefly differs fromthe Terrestrial fauna. Those animals whose coats furnish a textilefibre more resemble reindeer and goats than sheep; their wool issofter, longer, and less curly, free also from the greasiness of thesheep.

It seemed to me that an extreme quaintness characterised the domesticcreatures kept for special purposes. This was not the effect of merenovelty, for animals like the _amba_ and birds like the _esve_,trained to the performance of services congenial to their naturalhabits, however dissimilar to Terrestrial species, had not the sameair of singularity, or rather of monstrosity. But in the creaturesbred to furnish wool, feathers, or the like, some single feature wasalways exaggerated into disproportionate dimensions. Thus the_elnerve_ is loaded with long plumes, sometimes twice the length ofthe body, and curled upward at the extremity, so that it can neitherfly nor run; and though its plumage is exquisitely beautiful, thecreature itself is simply ludicrous. It bears the same popular reputefor sagacity as the goose of European farmyards. The _angasto_ hashair or wool so long that its limbs are almost hidden, just beforeshearing-time, in the tresses that hang from the body half way to theground. The _calperze_, a bird no larger than a Norfolk turkey, hasthe hinder part developed to an enormous size, so that the gracefulpeacock-like neck and shoulders appear as if lost in the hugeproportions of the body, and the little wings are totally unfit toraise it in the air; while it lays almost daily eggs as large as thoseof the ostrich and of peculiar richness and flavour. Nearly all thedomestic birds kept for the sake of eggs or feathers have wings thatlook as if they had been clipped, and are incapable of flight.Creatures valued for their flesh, such as the _quorno_ (somewhat likethe eland, but with the single horn so common among its congeners inMars, and with a soft white hide), and the _viste_, a bird about thesize of the peacock, with the form of the partridge and the flavour ofgrouse or black game, preserve more natural proportions. Thewing-quills of the latter, however, having been systematically pluckedfor hundreds of generations, are now dwarfed and useless. Theseanimals are not encouraged to make fat on the one hand, or to developpowerful muscles and sinews on the other. They are fed for part of theyear on the higher and thinner pastures of the mountains. When broughtdown to the meadows of the plain, they are allowed to graze only for afew hours before sunset and after sunrise. They thus preserve much ofthe flavour of game or mountain sheep and cattle, which the oxen andpoultry of Europe have lost; flavour, not quantity, being the chiefobject of care with Martial graziers. Sometimes, however, somepeculiarity perfectly useless, or even inconvenient, appears to benaturally associated with that which is artificially developed. Thusthe beak of the _elnerve_ is weak and often splits, so as to renderits rearing troublesome and entail considerable losses; while thehorns of the wool-bearing animals are long and strong enough to beformidable, but so rough and coarsely grained that they are turned tono account for use or ornament.

We were rapidly approaching the foot of the hills, where the rivermade another and abrupt turn. At this point the produce of the wholeupper valley is generally embarked, and supplies from all otherquarters are here received and distributed. In consequence, a townlarge and important for this planet, where no one who can help itprefers the crowded street to the freedom and expanse of the country,had grown up, with about a hundred and fifty houses, and perhaps athousand inhabitants. It was so much matter of course that voyagersshould disembark to cross the hills or to pursue their journey alongthe upper part of the river by road, that half-a-dozen differentpartnerships made it their business to assist in the transfer ofpassengers and light wares. Ahead of us was a somewhat steephill-slope, in the lower part of which a wall absolutely perpendicularhad been cut by those who pierced the tunnel, the mouth of which wasnow clearly visible immediately before us. It was about twelve feet inheight, and perhaps twenty feet in width. The stream, which, likenearly all Martial rivers, is wide and shallow, had during the lastfifty miles of our course grown narrower, with a depth at the sametime constantly lessening, so that some care was required on the partof the pilot to avoid running aground. A stream of twenty inches indepth, affording room for two boats to pass abreast, is considerednavigable for vessels only carrying passengers; thirty inches arerequired to afford a course which for heavy freight is preferable tothe road. Eveena had taken it for granted that we should disembarkhere, and it was not till we had come within a hundred yards of thelanding-place--where the bank was perpendicular and levelled to aheight above the water, which enabled passengers to step directly fromthe deck of the boat--without slackening our speed, that thepossibility of our intending to accompany the boat on its subterrenecourse occurred to her. As she did not speak, but merely drew closerto me, and held fast my hand, I had no idea of her real distress tillwe were actually at the mouth of the black and very frightful-lookingpassage, and the pilot had lighted the electric lamp. As the boat shotunder the arch she could not repress a cry of terror. Naturallyputting my arm round her at this sign of alarm, I felt that she wastrembling violently, and a single look, despite her veil, convinced methat she was crying, though in silence and doing her utmost to concealher tears.

"Are you so frightened, child?" I asked. "I have been through manysubterranean passages, though none so long and dark as this. But yousee our lamp lights up not only the boat but the whole vault aroundand before us, and there can be no danger whatever."

"I am frightened, though," she said, "I cannot help it. I never sawanything of the kind before; and the darkness behind and before us,and the black water on either side, do make me shiver."

"Stop!" I called to the boatman.

"Now, Eveena," I said, "I do not care to persist in this journey if itreally distresses you. I wished to see so wonderful a work ofengineering; but, after all, I have been in a much uglier and morewonderful place, and I can see nothing here stranger than when I wasrowed for three-quarters of a mile on the river in the Mammoth Cave.In any case I shall see little but a continuation of what I seealready; so if you cannot bear it, we will go back."

By this time Esmo, who had been in the bows, had joined us, wishing toknow why I had stopped the boat.

"This child," I said, "is not used to travelling, and the tunnelfrightens her; so that I think, after all, we had better take theusual course across the mountains."

"Nonsense!" he answered. "There is no danger here; less probably thanin an ordinary drive, certainly less than in a balloon. Don't spoilher, my friend. If you begin by yielding to so silly a caprice asthis, you will end by breaking her heart before the two years areout."

"Do go on," whispered Eveena. "I was very silly; I am not sofrightened now, and if you will hold me fast, I will not misbehaveagain."

Esmo had taken the matter out of my hands, desiring the boatman toproceed; and though I sympathised with my bride's feminine terror muchmore than her father appeared to do, I was selfishly anxious, in spiteof my declaration that there could be no novelty in this tunnel, tosee one thing certainly original--the means by which so narrow and solong a passage could be efficiently ventilated. The least I could do,however, was to appease Eveena's fear before turning my attention tothe objects of my own curiosity. The presence of physical strength,which seemed to her superhuman, produced upon her nerves the quietingeffect which, however irrationally, great bodily force alwaysexercises over women; partly, perhaps, from the awe it seems toinspire, partly from a yet more unreasonable but instinctive relianceon its protection even in dangers against which it is obviouslyunavailing.

Presently a current of air, distinctly warmer than that of the tunnel,which had been gradually increasing in force for some minutes, becameso powerful that I could no longer suppose it accidental. Kevima beingnear us, I asked him what it meant.

"Ventilation," he answered. "The air in these tunnels would be fouland stagnant, perhaps unbreathable, if we did not drive a constantcurrent of air through them. You did not notice, a few yards from theentrance, a wheel which drives a large fan. One of these is placed atevery half mile, and drives on the air from one end of the tunnel tothe other. They are reversed twice in a zyda, so that they may createno constant counter-current outside."

"But is not the power exerted to drive so great a body of airexceedingly costly?"

"No," he answered. "As you are aware, electricity is almost our onlymotive power, and we calculate that the labour of two men, evenwithout the help of machines, could in their working zydau [eighthours] collect and reduce a sufficient amount of the elements by whichthe current is created to do the work of four hundred men during awhole day and night."

"And how long," I inquired, "has electricity had so complete amonopoly of mechanical work?"

"It was first brought into general use," he replied, "about eightthousand years ago. Before that, heated air supplied our principallocomotive force, as well as the power of stationary machines whereverno waterfall of sufficient energy was at hand. For several centuriesthe old powers were still employed under conditions favourable totheir use. But we have found electricity so much cheaper than thecheapest of other artificial forces, so much more powerful than anysupplied by Nature, that we have long discontinued the employment ofany other. Even when we obtain electricity by means of heat, we findthat the gain in application more than compensates the loss in thetransmutation of one force into another."

In the course of little more than half an hour we emerged from thetunnel, whose gloom, when once the attraction of novelty was gone, wascertainly unpleasant to myself, if not by any means so frightful asEveena still found it. There was nothing specially attractive ornoticeable in the valley through which our course now ran, except theextreme height of its mountain walls, which, though not by any meansperpendicular, rose to a height of some 3000 feet so suddenly that toclimb their sides would have been absolutely impossible. Only duringabout two hours in the middle of the day is the sun seen from thelevel of the stream; and it is dark in the bottom of this valley longbefore the mist has fallen on the plain outside. We had presently,however, to ascend a slope of some twenty-five feet in the mile, and Iwas much interested in the peculiar method by which the ascent wasmade. A mere ascent, not greater than that of some rapids up whichAmerican boatmen have managed to carry their barques by manual force,presented no great difficulty; but some skill is required atparticular points to avoid being overturned by the rush of the water,and our vessel so careened as to afford much more excuse for Eveena'soutbreak of terror than the tunnel had done. Had I not held her fastshe must certainly have been thrown overboard, the pilot, used to thedanger, having forgotten to warn us. For the rest, in the absence ofrocks, the vessel ascended more easily than a powerful steamer, if shecould find sufficient depth, could make her way up the rapids of theSt. Lawrence or similar streams. We entered the second tunnel withoutany sign of alarm from Eveena perceptible to others; only her clingingto my hand expressed the fear of which she was ashamed but could notrid herself. Emerging from its mouth, we found ourselves within sightof the sea and of the town and harbour of Serocasfe, where we werenext day to embark. Landing from the boat, we were met by the friendwhose hospitality Esmo had requested. At his house, half a mileoutside the town, for the first time since our marriage I had to partfor a short period with Eveena, who was led away by the veiledmistress of the house, while we remained in the entrance chamber orhall. The evening meal was anticipated by two hours, in order that wemight attend the meeting at which my bride and I were to receive ourformal admission into the Zinta.

CHAPTER XIII - THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT.

"Probably," said Esmo, when, apparently at a sign from him, our hostleft us for some minutes alone, "much through which you are about topass will seem to you childish or unmeaning. Ceremonial renderedimpressive to us by immemorial antiquity, and cherished the morebecause so contrary to the absence of form and ceremony in the lifearound us--symbolism which is really the more useful, the morevaluable, because it contains much deeper meaning than is everapparent at first sight--have proved their use by experience; and, asthey are generally witnessed for the first time in early youth, make asharper impression than they are likely to effect upon a mind likeyours. But they may seem strangely inconsistent with a belief which isin itself so limited, and founded so absolutely upon logical proof orpractical evidence. The best testimony to the soundness of our policyin this respect is the fact that our vows, and the rites by which theyare sanctioned, are never broken, that our symbols are regarded withan awe which no threats, no penalties, can attach to the highest ofcivil authorities or the most solemn legal sanctions. The language ofsymbol, moreover, has for us two great advantages--one dependent uponthe depth of thought and knowledge with which the symbols themselveswere selected by our Founder, owing to which each generation finds inthem some new truth of which we never dreamed before; the otherarising from the fact that we are a small select body in the midst ofa hostile and jealous race, from whom it is most important to keep thekey of communications which, without the appearance, have all theeffect of ciphers."

"I find," I replied, "in my own world that every religion and everyform of occult mysticism, nay, every science, in its own way andwithin its own range, attaches great importance to symbols inthemselves apparently arbitrary. Experience shows that these, symbolsoften contain a clue to more than they were originally meant toconvey, and can be employed in reasonings far beyond the grasp ofthose who first invented or adopted them. That a body like the _Zinta_could be held together without ceremonial and without formalities,which, if they had no other value, would have the attraction ofsecresy and exclusiveness, seems obviously impossible."

Here our host rejoined us. We passed into the gallery, where severalpersons were awaiting us; the men for the most part wearing a smallvizor dependent from the turban, which concealed their faces; thewomen all, without exception, closely veiled. As soon as Esmoappeared, the party formed themselves into a sort of procession twoand two. Motioning me to take the last place, Esmo passed himself toits head. If the figure beside me were not at once recognised, I couldnot mistake the touch of the hand that stole into my own. The lightsin the gallery were extinguished, and then I perceived a lamp held atthe end of a wand of crystal, which gleamed above Esmo's head, andsufficed to guide us, giving light enough to direct our footsteps andlittle more. Perhaps this half-darkness, the twilight which gave acertain air of mystery to the scene and of uncertainty to the forms ofobjects encountered on our route, had its own purpose. We reached verysoon the end of the gallery, and then the procession turned and passedsuddenly into another chamber, apparently narrow, but so faintlylighted by the lamp in our leader's hands that its dimensions werematter of mere conjecture. That we were descending a somewhat steepincline I was soon aware; and when we came again on to level ground Ifelt sure that we were passing through a gallery cut in natural rock.The light was far too dim to enable me to distinguish any openings inthe walls; but the procession constantly lengthened, though it wasimpossible to see where and when new members joined. Suddenly thelight disappeared. I stood still for a moment in surprise, and when Iagain went forward I became speedily conscious that all our companionshad vanished, and that we stood alone in utter darkness. Fearing tolead Eveena further where my own steps were absolutely uncertain, Ipaused for some time, and with little difficulty decided to remainwhere I was, until something should afford an indication of thepurpose of those who had brought us so far, and who must know, if theyhad not actual means of observing, that in darkness and solitude Ishould not venture to proceed.

Presently, as gradually as in Northern climates the night passes intomorning twilight, the darkness became less absolute. Whence the lightcame it was impossible to perceive. Diffused all around and slowlybroadening, it just enabled me to discern a few paces before us theverge of a gulf. This might have been too shallow for inconvenience,it might have been deep enough for danger. I waited till my eyesshould be able to penetrate its interior; but before the light enteredit I perceived, apparently growing across it, really coming graduallyinto view under the brightening gleam, a species of bridge which--whenthe twilight ceased to increase, and remained as dim as that cast bythe crescent moon--assumed the outline of a slender trunk supported bywings, dark for the most part but defined along the edge by a narrowband of brightest green, visible in a gleam too faint to show anyobject of a deeper shade. Somewhat impatient of the obvious symbolism,I hurried Eveena forward. Immediately on the other side of the bridgethe path turned almost at right angles; and here a gleam of lightahead afforded a distinct guidance to our steps. Approaching it, wewere challenged, and I gave the answer with which I had beenpreviously furnished; an answer which may not be, as it never hasbeen, written down. A door parted and admitted us into a smallvestibule, at the other end of which a full and bright light streamedthrough a portal of translucent crystal. A sentinel, armed only withthe antiquated spear which may have been held by his first predecessorin office ten thousand Martial years ago, now demanded our names. Minehe simply repeated, but as I gave that of Eveena, daughter of Esmo, helowered his weapon in the salute still traditional among Martialsentries; and bending his head, touched with his lips the long sleeveof the cloak of _therne_-down in which she was on this occasion againenveloped. This homage appeared to surprise her almost as much asmyself, but we had no leisure for observation or inquiry. From behindthe crystal door another challenge was uttered. To this it was thesentry's part to reply, and as he answered the door parted; that atthe other end of the vestibule having, I observed, closed as weentered, and so closed that its position was undiscoverable. Before usopened a hall of considerable size, consisting of three distinctvaults, defined by two rows of pillars, slender shafts resembling tallbranchless trees, the capital of each being formed by a branching headlike that of the palm. The trunks were covered with golden scales; thefern-like foliage at the summit was of a bright sparkling emerald. Itwas evident to my observation that the entire hall had been excavatedfrom solid rock, and the pillars left in their places. Each of theside aisles, if I may so call them, was occupied by four rows of seatssimilarly carved in the natural stone; but lined after Martialfashion, with cushions embroidered in feathers and metals, and coveredby woven fabrics finer than any known to the looms of Lyons orCashmere. About two-thirds of the seats were occupied; those to theright as we entered (that is, on the left of the dais at the end ofthe hall) by men, those opposite by women. All, I observed, rose for amoment as Eveena's name was announced, from the further end of thehall, by the foremost of three or four persons vested in silver, withbelts of the crimson metal which plays the part of our best-temperedsteel, and bearing in their hands wands of a rose-coloured jewelresembling a clouded onyx in all but the hue. Each of them wore overhis dress a band or sash of gold, fastened on the left shoulder anddescending to the belt on the right, much resembling the ribbons ofEuropean knighthood. These supported on the left breast a silver star,or heraldic mullet, of six points. Throughout the rest of the assemblya similar but smaller star glimmered on every breast, supported,however, by green or silver bands, the former worn by the body of theassembly, the latter by a few persons gathered together for the mostpart at the upper end of the chamber.... The chief who had firstaddressed us bade us pass on, and we left the Hall of the Novitiate asaccepted members of the Order.... That into which we next entered wasso dark that its form and dimensions were scarcely defined to my eyes.I supposed it, however, to be circular, surmounted by a domeresembling in colour the olive green Martial sky and spangled bystars, among which I discerned one or two familiar constellations, butmost distinctly, brightened far beyond its natural brilliancy, thearch of the _Via Lactea_. Presently, not on any apparent sheet orscreen but as in the air before us, appeared a narrow band of lightcrossing the entire visible space. It resembled a rope twisted ofthree strands, two of a deep dull hue, the one apparently orange, theother brown or crimson, contrasting the far more brilliant emeraldstrand that formed the third portion of the threefold cord. I hadlearnt by this time that metallic cords so twined serve in Mars mostof the uses for which chains are employed on Earth, and I assumed thatthis symbol possessed the significance which poetry or ritual mightattach to the latter.

This cord or band retained its position throughout, crossing the darkbackground of the scenes now successively presented, each of whichmelted into its successor--rapidly, but so gradually that there wasnever a distinct point of division, a moment at which it was possibleto say that any new feature was first introduced.

A bright mist of various colours intermixed in inextricable confusion,an image of chaos but for the dim light reflected from all theparticles, filled a great part of the space before us, but the cordwas still discernible in the background. Presently, a brightrose-coloured point of light, taking gradually the form of an Eye,appeared above the cord and beyond the mist; and, emanating from it, aray of similar light entered the motionless vapour. Then a movement,whose character it was not easy to discern, but which constantlybecame more and more evidently rhythmical and regular, commenced inthe mist. Within a few moments the latter had dissolved, leaving inits place the semblance of stars, star-clusters, and golden nebulae,as dim and confused as that in the sword-belt of Orion, or as welldefined as any of those called by astronomers planetary."What seest thou?" said a voice whose very direction I could notrecognise.

"Cosmos evolved out of confusion by Law; Law emanating from SupremeWisdom and irresistible Will."

"And in the triple band?"

"The continuity of Time and Space preserved by the continuity of Law,and controlled by the Will that gave Law."

While I spoke a single nebula grew larger, brighter, and filled theentire space given throughout to the pictures presented to us; starsand star-clusters gradually fading away into remoter distance. Thisnebula, of spherical shape--formed of coarser particles than theprevious mist, and reflecting or radiating a more brillianteffulgence--was in rapid whirling motion. It flattened into the formof a disc, apparently almost circular, of considerable depth orthickness, visibly denser in the centre and thinner towards therounded edge. Presently it condensed and contracted, leaving at eachof the several intervals a severed ring. Most of these rings broke up,their fragments conglomerated and forming a sphere; one in particularseparating into a multitude of minuter spheres, others assuming ahighly elliptical form, condensing here and thinning out there; whilethe central mass grew brighter and denser as it contracted; till therelay before me a perfect miniature of the solar system, with planets,satellites, asteroids, and meteoric rings.

"What seest thou?" again I heard.

"Intelligence directing Will, and Will by Law developing the microcosmof which this world is one of the smallest parts."

The orb which represented Mars stood still in the centre of the space,and this orb soon occupied the whole area. It assumed at first theform of a vast vaporous globe; then contracted to a comparativelysmall sphere, glowing as if more than red-hot, and leaving as itcontracted two tiny balls revolving round their primary. The lattergradually faded till it gave out no light but that which from someunseen source was cast upon it, one-half consequently contrasting indarkness the reflected brightness of the other. Ere long it presentedthe appearance of sea and land, of cloud, of snow, and ice, and becamea perfect image of the Martial sphere. Then it gave place to a globeof water alone, within which the processes of crystallisation, asexhibited first in its simpler then in its more complicated forms,were beautifully represented. Then there appeared, I knew not how, butseemingly developed by the same agency and in the same manner as thecrystals, a small transparent sphere within the watery globe,containing itself a spherical nucleus. From this were evolvedgradually two distinct forms, one resembling very much some of thesimplest of those transparent creatures which the microscope exhibitsto us in the water drop, active, fierce, destructive in their scale ofsize and life as the most powerful animals of the sea and land. Theother was a tiny fragment of tissue, gradually shaping itself into thesimplest and smallest specimens of vegetable life. The watery globedisappeared, and these two were left alone. From each graduallyemerged, growing in size, complexity, and distinctness, one form afteranother of higher organisation.

"What seest thou?"

"Life called out of lifelessness by Law."

Again, so gradually that no step of the process could be separatelydistinguished, formed a panorama of vegetable and animal life; alandscape in which appeared some dozen primal shapes of eitherkingdom. Each of these gradually dissolved, passing by slow degreesinto several higher or more perfect shapes, till there stood beforeour eyes a picture of life as it exists at present; and Man in itsmidst, more obviously even than on Earth, dominating and subduing thefellow-creatures of whom he is lord. From which of the innumerableanimal forms that had been presented to us in the course of thesetransmutations this supreme form had arisen, I did not note or cannotremember. But that no true ape appeared among them, I do distinctlyrecollect, having been on the watch for the representation of such anepoch in the pictured history.

What was now especially noteworthy was that, solid as they appeared,each form was in some way transparent. From the Emblem beforementioned a rose-coloured light pervaded the scene; scarcelydiscernible in the general atmosphere, faintly but distinctlytraceable in every herb, shrub, and tree, more distinguishable andconcentrated in each animal. But in plant or animal the condensedlight was never separated and individualised, never parted from,though obviously gathered and agglomerated out of, the generallydiffused rosy sheen that tinged the entire landscape. It was as thoughthe rose-coloured light formed an atmosphere which entered and passedfreely through the tissues of each animal and plant, but brightenedand deepened in those portions which at any moment pervaded anyorganised shape, while it flowed freely in and out of all. Theconcentration was most marked, the connection with the diffusedatmosphere least perceptible, in those most intelligent creatures,like the _amba_ and _carve_, which in the service of man appear tohave acquired a portion of human intelligence. But turning to the typeof Man himself, the light within his body had assumed the shape of theframe it filled and appeared to animate. In him the rose-colouredimage which exactly corresponded to the body that encased it wasperfectly individualised, and had no other connection with theremainder of the light than that it appeared to emanate and to be fedfrom the original source. As I looked, the outward body dissolved, theimage of rosy light stood alone, as human and far more beautiful thanbefore, rose upward, and passed away.

"What seest thou?" was uttered in an even more earnest and solemn tonethan heretofore.

"Life," I said, "physical and spiritual; the one sustained by theother, the spiritual emanating from the Source of Life, pervading allliving forms, affording to each the degree of individuality and ofintelligence needful to it, but in none forming an individual entityapart from the race, save in Man himself; and in Man forming theindividual being, whereof the flesh is but the clothing and theinstrument."

The whole scene suddenly vanished in total darkness; only again in onedirection a gleam of light appeared, and guided us to a portal throughwhich we entered another long and narrow passage, terminating in asecond vestibule before a door of emerald crystal, brilliantlyilluminated by a light within. Here, again, our steps were arrested.The door was guarded by two sentries, in whom I recognised Initiatesof the Order, wearers of the silver sash and star. The password andsign, whispered to me as we left the Hall of the Novitiate, havingbeen given, the door parted and exposed to our view the inmostchamber, a scene calculated to strike the eye and impress the mind notmore by its splendour and magnificence than by the unexpectedcharacter it displayed. It represented a garden, but the boundarieswere concealed by the branching trees, the arches of floweringcreepers, the thickets of flowers, shrubs, and tall reeds, which inevery direction imitated so perfectly the natural forms that theclosest scrutiny would have been required to detect theirartificiality. The general form, however, seemed to be that of asquare entered by a very short, narrow passage, and divided by broadpaths, forming a cross of equal arms. At the central point of thiscross was placed on a pedestal of emerald a statue in gold, whichrecalled at once the features of the Founder. The space might haveaccommodated two thousand persons, but on the seats--of a materialresembling ivory, each of them separately formed and gathered inirregular clusters--there were not, I thought, more than four hundredor five hundred men and women intermingled; the former dressed for themost part in green, the latter in pink or white, and all wearing thesilver band and star. At the opposite end, closing the central aisle,was a low narrow platform raised by two steps carved out of thenatural rock, but inlaid with jewellery imitating closely thevariegated turf of a real garden. On this were placed, slantingbackward towards the centre, two rows of six golden seats or thrones,whose occupants wore the golden band over silver robes. That next theinterval, but to the left, was filled by Esmo, who to my surprise worea robe of white completely covering his figure, and contrastingsignally the golden sash to which his star was attached. On his leftarm, bare below the elbow, I noticed a flat thick band of plain gold,with an emerald seal, bearing the same proportion to the bracelet as alarge signet to its finger ring. What struck me at once as mostremarkable was, that the seats on the dais and the forms of theiroccupiers were signally relieved against a background of intensedarkness, whose nature, however, I could not discern. The roof was inform a truncated pyramid; its material a rose-coloured crystal,through which a clear soft light illuminated the whole scene. Acrossthe floor of the entrance, immediately within the portal, was a broadband of the same crystal, marking the formal threshold of the Hall.Immediately inside this stood the same Chief who had received us inthe former Hall; and as we stood at the door, stretching forth hisleft hand, he spoke, or rather chanted, what, by the rhythmicalsequence of the words, by the frequent recurrence of alliteration andirregular rhyme, was evidently a formula committed to the verse of theMartial tongue: a formula, like all those of the Order, never written,but handed down by memory, and therefore, perhaps, cast in a shapewhich rendered accurate remembrance easier and more certain.

"Ye who, lost in outer night, Reach at last the Source of Light, Ask ye in that light to dwell? None we urge and none repel; Opens at your touch the door, Bright within the lamp of lore. Yet beware! The threshold passed, Fixed the bond, the ball is cast. Failing heart or faltering feet Find nor pardon nor retreat. Loyal faith hath guerdon given Boundless as the star-sown Heaven; Horror fathomless and gloom Rayless veil the recreant's doom. Warned betimes, in time beware--Freely turn, or frankly swear."

"What am I to swear?" I asked.

A voice on my left murmured in a low tone the formula, which Irepeated, Eveena accompanying my words in an almost inaudiblewhisper--

"Whatsoe'er within the Shrine Eyes may see or soul divine, Swear we secret as the deep, Silent as the Urn to keep. By the Light we claim to share, By the Fount of Light, we swear."

As these words were uttered, I became aware that some change had takenplace at the further end of the Hall. Looking up, the dark backgroundhad disappeared, and under a species of deep archway, behind the seatsof the Chiefs, was visible a wall diapered in ruby and gold, anddisplaying in various interwoven patterns the several symbols of theZinta. Towards the roof, exactly in the centre, was a large silverstar, emitting a light resembling that which the full moon sheds on atropical scene, but far more brilliant. Around this was a broad goldencircle or band; and beneath, the silver image of a serpent--perfectlyreproducing a typical terrestrial snake, but coiled, as no snake evercoils itself, in a double circle or figure of eight, with the tailwound around the neck. On the left was a crimson shield or what seemedto be such, small, round, and swelling in the centre into a sharppoint; on the right three crossed spears of silver with crimson bladespointed upward. But the most remarkable object--immediately fillingthe interval between the seats of the Chiefs, and carved from a hugecubic block of emerald--was a Throne, ascended on each side by five orsix steps, the upper step or seat extending nearly across the wholesome two feet below the surface, the next forming a footstool thereto.Above this was a canopy, seemingly self-supported, of circular form. Achain formed by interlaced golden circles was upheld by four greatemerald wings. Within the chain, again, was the silver Serpent, coiledas before and resting upon a surface of foliage and flowers. In thecentre of all was repeated the silver Star within the golden band; theemblem from which the Order derives its name, and in which it embodiesits deepest symbolism. Following again the direction of my unseenprompter, I repeated words which may be roughly translated asfollows:--

"By the outer Night of gloom, By the ray that leads us home, By the Light we claim to share, By the Fount of Light, we swear. Prompt obedience, heart and hand, To the Signet's each command: For the Symbols, reverence mute, In the Sense faith absolute. Link by link to weld the Chain, Link with link to bear the strain; Cherish all the Star who wear, As the Starlight's self--we swear. By the Life the Light to prove, In the Circle's bound to move; Underneath the all-seeing Eye Act, nor speak, nor think the lie; Live, as warned that Life shall last, And the Future reap the Past: Clasp in faith the Serpent's rings, Trust through death the Emerald Wings, Hand and voice we plight the Oath: Fade the life ere fail the troth!"

Rising from his seat and standing immediately before and to the leftof the Throne, Esmo replied. But before he had spoken half-a-dozenwords, a pressure on my arm drew my eyes from him to Eveena. She stoodfixed as if turned to stone, in an attitude which for one fleetinginstant recalled that of the sculptured figures undergoing suddenpetrifaction at the sight of the Gorgon's head. This rememberedresemblance, or an instinctive sympathy, at once conveyed to me theconsciousness that the absolute stillness of her attitude expressed ahorror or an awe too deep for trembling. Looking into her eyes, whichalone were visible, their gaze fixed intently on the Throne, at oncecaught and controlled my own; and raising my eyes again to the samepoint, I stood almost equally petrified by consternation andamazement. I need not say how many marvels of no common character Ihave seen on Earth; how many visions that, if I told them, none whohave not shared them would believe; wonders that the few who have seenthem can never forget, nor--despite all experience and all theoreticalexplanation--recall without renewing the thrill of awe-stricken dismaywith which the sight was first beheld. But no marvel of the MysticSchools, no spectral scene, objective or subjective, ever evoked bythe rarest of occult powers, so startled, so impressed me as what Inow saw, or thought I saw. The Throne, on which but a few momentsbefore my eyes had been steadily fixed, and which had then assuredlybeen vacant, was now occupied; and occupied by a Presence which,though not seen in the flesh for ages, none who had ever looked on theportrait that represented it could forget or mistake. The form, thedress, the long white hair and beard, the grave, dignifiedcountenance, above all the deep, scrutinising, piercing eyes of theFounder--as I had seen them on a single occasion in Esmo's house--werenow as clearly, as forcibly, presented to my sight as any figure inthe flesh I ever beheld. The eyes were turned on me with a calm,searching, steady gaze, whose effect was such as Southey ascribes toIndra's:--

"The look he gave was solemn, not severe; No hope to Kailyal it conveyed, And yet it struck no fear."

For a moment they rested on Eveena's veiled and drooping figure with awidely different expression. That look, as I thought, spoke a gravebut passionless regret or pity, as of one who sees a childunconsciously on the verge of peril or sorrow that admits neither ofwarning nor rescue. That look happily she did not read; but we bothsaw the same object and in the same instant; we both stood amazed andappalled long enough to render our hesitation not only apparent, butstriking to all around, many of whom, following the direction of mygaze, turned their eyes upon the Throne. What they saw or did not seeI know not, and did not then care to think. The following formula,pronounced by Esmo, had fallen not unheard, but almost unheeded on myears, though one passage harmonised strangely with the sight beforeme:--

"Passing sign and fleeting breath Bind the Soul for life and death! Lifted hand and plighted word Eyes have seen and ears have heard; Eyes have seen--nor ours alone; Fell the sound on ears unknown. Age-long labour, strand by strand, Forged the immemorial band; Never thread hath known decay, Never link hath dropped away."

Here he paused and beckoned us to advance. The sign, twice repeatedbefore I could obey it, at last broke the spell that enthralled me.Under the most astounding or awe-striking circumstances, instinctmoves our limbs almost in our own despite, and leads us to do withparalysed will what has been intended or is expected of us. Thisinstinct, and no conscious resolve to overcome the influence that heldme spell-bound, enabled me to proceed; and I led Eveena forward byactual if gentle force, till we reached the lower step of theplatform. Here, at a sign from her father, we knelt, while, laying hishands on our heads, and stooping to kiss each upon the brow--Eveenaraising her veil for one moment and dropping it again--he continued--

"So we greet you evermore, Brethren of the deathless Lore; So your vows our own renew, Sworn to all as each to you. Yours at once the secrets won Age by age, from sire to son; Yours the fruit through countless years Grown by thought and toil and tears. He who guards you guards his own, He who fails you fails the Throne."

The last two lines were repeated, as by a simultaneous impulse, in alow but audible tone by the whole assembly. In the meantime Esmo hadinvested each of us with the symbol of our enrolment in the Zinta, thesilver sash and Star of the Initiates. The ceremonial seemed to me toafford that sort of religious sanction and benediction which had beenso signally wanting to the original form of our union. As we rose Iturned my eyes for a moment upon the Throne, now vacant as at first.Another Chief, followed by the voices of the assembly, repeated, in alow deep tone, which fell on our ears as distinctly as the loudesttrumpet-note in the midst of absolute silence, the solemnimprecation--

"Who denies a brother's need, Who in will, or word, or deed, Breaks the Circle's bounded line, Rends the Veil that guards the Shrine, Lifts the hand to lips that lie, Fronts the Star with soothless eye:--. Dreams of horror haunt his rest, Storms of madness vex his breast, Snares surround him, Death beset, Man forsake--and God forget!"

It was probably rather the tone of profound conviction and almosttremulous awe with which these words were slowly enunciated by theentire assemblage, than their actual sense, though the latter isgreatly weakened by my translation, that gave them an effect on my ownmind such as no oath and no rite, however solemn, no religiousceremonial, no forms of the most secret mysteries, had ever produced.I was not surprised that Eveena was far more deeply affected. Even theearlier words of the imprecation had caused her to shudder; and ere itclosed she would have sunk to the ground, but for the support of myarm. Disengaging the bracelet, Esmo held out to our lips the signet,which, as I now perceived, reproduced in miniature the symbols thatformed the canopy above the throne. A few moments of deep and solemnsilence had elapsed, when one of the Chiefs, who, except Esmo, had nowresumed their seats, rose, and addressing himself to the latter,said--

"The Initiate has shown in the Hall of the Vision a knowledge of thesense embodied in our symbols, of the creed and thoughts drawn fromthem, which he can hardly have learned in the few hours that haveelapsed since you first spoke to him of their existence. If there benot in his world those who have wrought out for themselves similartruths in not dissimilar forms, he must possess a rare and almostinstinctive power to appreciate the lessons we can teach. I will askyour permission, therefore, to put to him but one question, and thatthe deepest and most difficult of all."

Esmo merely bent his head in reply.

"Can you," said the speaker, turning to me with marked courtesy, "drawmeaning or lesson from the self-entwined coil of the Serpent?"

I need not repeat an answer which, to those familiar with the oldestlanguage of Terrestrial symbolism, would have occurred as readily asto myself; and which, if they could understand it, it would not bewell to explain to others. The three principal elements of thoughtrepresented by the doubly-coiled serpent are the same in Mars as onEarth, confirming in so far the doctrine of the Zinta, that theirsymbolic language is not arbitrary, but natural, formed on principlesinherent in the correspondence between things spiritual and physical.Some similar but trivial query, whose purport I have now forgotten,was addressed by the junior of the Chiefs to Eveena; and I was struckby the patient courtesy with which he waited till, after two or threeefforts, she sufficiently recovered her self-possession to understandand her voice to answer. We then retired, taking our place on seatsremote from the platform, and at some distance from any of ourneighbours.

On a formal invitation, one after another of the brethren rose andread a brief account of some experiment or discovery in the science ofthe Order. The principles taken for granted as fundamental andnotorious truths far transcend the extremest speculations ofTerrestrial mysticism. The powers claimed as of course so infinitelyexceed anything alleged by the most ardent believers in mesmerism,clairvoyance, or spiritualism, that it would be useless to relate thefew among these experiments which I remember and might be permitted torepeat. I observed that a phonographic apparatus of a peculiarlyelaborate character wrote down every word of these accounts withoutobliging the speakers to approach it; and I was informed that thisautomatic reporting is employed in every Martial assembly, scientific,political, or judicial.

I listened with extreme interest, and was more than satisfied thatEsmo had even underrated the powers claimed by and for the lowest andleast intelligent of his brethren, when he said that these, and thesealone, could give efficient protection or signal vengeance against allthe tremendous physical forces at command of those State authorities,one of the greatest of whom I had made my personal enemy. Onebattalion of Martial guards or police, accompanied by a single batteryof what I may call their artillery, might, even without the aid of aballoon-squadron, in half-an-hour annihilate or scatter to the windsthe mightiest and bravest army that Europe could send forth. Yet theMartial State had deliberately, and, I think, with only a dueprudence, shrunk during ages from an open conflict of power with thefew thousand members of this secret but inevitably suspectedorganisation.

Esmo called on me in my turn to give such account as I might choose ofmy own world, and my journey thence. I frankly avowed my indispositionto explain the generation and action of the apergic force. The powerwhich a concurrent knowledge of two separate kinds of science hadgiven to a very few Terrestrials, and which all the science of a farmore enlightened race had failed to attain, was in my conscientiousconviction a Providential trust; withheld from those in whose hands itmight be a fearful temptation and an instrument of unbounded evil. Myreserve was perfectly intelligible to the Children of the Star, andevidently raised me in their estimation. I was much impressed by thesimple and unaffected reliance placed on my statements, as on those ofevery other member of the Order. As a rule, Martialists are both, andnot without reason, to believe any unsupported statement that might beprompted by interest or vanity. But the _Zveltau_ can trust oneanother's word more fully than the followers of Mahomet that of hisstrictest disciples, or the most honest nations of the West the mostsolemn oaths of their citizens; while that bigotry of scientificunbelief, that narrowness of thought which prevails among theircountrymen, has been dispelled by their wider studies and loftierinterests. They have a saying, whose purport might be rendered in theproverbial language of the Aryans by saying that the liar "kills thegoose that lays the golden eggs." Again, "The liar is like anopiatised tunneller" (miner), i.e., more likely to blow himself topieces than to effect his purpose. Again, "The liar drives the pointinto a friend's heart, and puts the hilt into a foe's hand." The maximthat "a lie is a shield in sore need, but the spear of a scoundrel,"affirms the right in extremity to preserve a secret from impertinentinquisitiveness. Rarely, but on some peculiarly important occasions,the Zveltau avouch their sincerity by an appeal to their own symbols;and it is affirmed that an oath attested by the Circle and the Starhas never, in the lapse of ages, been broken or evaded.

Before midnight Esmo dismissed the assembly by a formula which dimlyrecalled to memory one heard in my boyhood. It is not in the power ofmy translation to preserve the impressive solemnity of the immemorialritual of the Zinta, deepened alike by the earnestness of itsdelivery, and the reverence of the hearers. There was somethingmajestic in the mere antiquity of a liturgy whereof no word has everbeen committed to writing. Five hundred generations have, it isalleged, gathered four times in each year in the Hall of Initiation;and every meeting has been concluded by the utterance from the samespot and in the same words of the solemn but simple _Zulvakalfe_ [wordof peace]:--

"Peace be with you, near and far, Children of the Silver Star; Lore undoubting, conscience clean,